Friends of Bridger-Teton hires trail crew to help depleted agency

JACKSON (WNE) — A makeshift trail crew funded by private philanthropy will be working on the Bridger-Teton National Forest this summer, filling the gap created by the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce.

Friends of the Bridger-Teton cooked up the idea for the crew of five — dubbed the “forest corps” — with the organization’s board and U.S. Forest Service representatives.

“This is a response to the complete loss of capacity for the forest, and them losing a ton of their seasonal employees,” said Scott Kosiba, the nonprofit’s executive director.

Philanthropic support for the program is supplemented with funding from the Wyoming Wilderness Association and Trout Unlimited. Friends of the B-T created the program to meet the immediate needs of the forest but aims to develop the corps into a permanent program.

All five forest corps members are former Forest Service employees, the majority of them fired from the Pinedale wilderness and trails crew.

“They all have a ton of experience,” Kosiba said. “They’re hardened trail dogs.”

The forest corps will differ from Forest Service employees in that it will be conducting work across all six districts of the forest, rather than on a single district. Corps members will work alongside Forest Service employees to complete trail work.

The crew is already on the job, mostly on front country recreation projects. Last week, the five painted picnic tables at the New Fork Lake Campground in the Pinedale District.

Friends of the B-T also has stepped in to provide river rangers, which were cut in September 2024 due to the Forest Service’s budgetary shortcomings prior to the Trump administration. The organization’s hallmark ambassador program, launched in 2021, deploys volunteers to patrol trailheads, clean bathrooms and educate visitors on fire safety and food storage requirements.

The program, funded by the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board, could see a 50% reduction in funding next year.

This story was published on May 28, 2025.